Leadership is a complex system that requires a different way of thinking far beyond the traditional view of it as a person in a position.
To truly unlock the potential of an organization, we must move beyond leadership as a top-down command-and-control hierarchy and focus on the agency of critical connective nodes within the informal organization network. The most critical nodes operating within this networked leadership system are the middle managers—or center leaders—who too often are underestimated and undervalued.
THE CENTER LEADER MODEL
The Center Leader Model (see graphic below) is based on the recognition that organizations are networks of relationships. The center leaders who operate at the key intersection points of this network are the dynamos who propel the organization forward. They operate as an early detection system that can sense “weak signals” and bring them to the attention of higher-ups, who often are too far removed from the action. They are the central nervous system of the organizational organism.
People make organizations stop or go. Center leaders understand the wants, needs, and dreams of the people within the organization. They know what makes them tick. They know what people in the organization will do, and what they won’t. Center leaders can tell you whether people will willingly “execute” a strategy (as in do it) or maliciously “execute” the strategy (as in kill it).
This is important because more than 70 percent of strategy implementations fail today. Center leaders lead from the middle-out by informing strategic direction, guiding activity to drive results, motivating cultural change, and influencing individual behavior change. Without center leaders, strategies—and the companies that formulate them—are destined to go the way of the dinosaur.
UNLOCKING DISCRETIONARY EFFORT
Center leaders operate as contextual architects to create an environment where people are motivated to do things because they want to, not because they’re told to. They create work contexts where people feel empowered to become their best selves, express their uniqueness, and imagine a future that was not previously possible. In so doing, center leaders can unlock people’s discretionary effort and create an environment that is deliberately developmental.
Network engineering tells us that the most connected nodes in the network are the most critical points of failure. In organizations, removing the wrong person from the network can cause the entire system to collapse. Therefore, center leaders are vital to ensuring organization survival.
Today, middle managers often are viewed as useless dinosaurs, when, in fact, they play a critical “dynamo” role in sparking human connections to propel the organization forward. Instead of trying to get rid of them, we need to unlock their potential and let them do what they do best.
Do you know who your center leaders are? If not, now’s the time to identify and connect with them.